Word: moussavi
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Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reason to smile: his opponents in this June's presidential election appear to be in some disarray. Former President Mohammed Khatami withdrew from the race late Monday, declaring his support for former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Moussavi. The news reflects the confusion in the anti-Ahmadinejad camp that began last week when Moussavi threw his hat in the ring. The reluctant Khatami had previously agreed to stand only after exhaustive negotiations with Moussavi had failed to convince the former Prime Minister to run against Ahmadinejad...
...When Moussavi declared his own intention to run last week, some longtime reformist commentators expressed skepticism about his intentions. But Khatami had long made clear that he would run only as the consensus candidate of the anti-Ahmadinejad forces, and even then, reluctantly. He appears to have taken Moussavi's entry into the race as a cue to bow out and declare his support for the former Prime Minister. (See pictures of the legacy of Iran's revolution...
...Khatami had hoped to persuade his former presidential adviser, Mir-Hossein Moussavi, to run in his stead, but made clear that if Moussavi declined, he would be forced to accept the mantle of responsibility. According to Tajzadeh, the pressure on him, "combined with the terrible situation of the country," has made Khatami feel a social obligation to run against Ahmadinejad. A victory by the reformist leader who promoted domestic liberalization and accommodation with the West on the international front would mark a profound political shift from Ahmadinejad, whose foreign policy has been based on an uncompromising defiance. But victory...
...Last week, Moussavi appeared to take himself out of the running. Having served in the now defunct post of prime minister during the Iran-Iraq war, Moussavi is well-liked by Iranians from across the political spectrum because he is credited with having managed the Islamic Republic through its most difficult years. But one political analyst requesting anonymity suggested that Moussavi's reluctance to run is due to his uncertainty over the extent of authority he would enjoy in the presidency. During his time as prime minister, he is known to have had disagreements with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...
...Hundreds of Azerbaijani Muslims who had illegally entered into Iran returned home, many of them bearing weapons. Ayatullah Abdul Karim Moussavi Ardebili, a former Iranian Chief Justice, said in Tehran that Communist states are "anti-God" and that Soviet Azerbaijan is now a "great market for the introduction of Islam." Though Iranian officials played down the crisis, perhaps fearing that Iran's Azerbaijani minority might take a lesson from events across the border, Ardebili's speech raised the possibility that Gorbachev should be less worried about Azerbaijan's becoming another Afghanistan than about its turning into another Iran...